Acts of Apostles

17 They now traveled through Am·phipʹo·lis and Ap·ol·loʹni·a and came to Thes·sa·lo·niʹca,+ where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 So according to Paul’s custom+ he went inside to them, and for three sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,+3 explaining and proving by references that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer+ and to rise from the dead,+ saying: “This is the Christ, this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.” 4 As a result, some of them became believers and associated themselves with Paul and Silas,+ and so did a great multitude of the Greeks who worshipped God, along with quite a few of the principal women.

5 But the Jews, getting jealous,+ gathered together some wicked men who were loitering at the marketplace and formed a mob and proceeded to throw the city into an uproar. They assaulted the house of Jaʹson and were seeking to have Paul and Silas brought out to the mob. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jaʹson and some of the brothers to the city rulers, crying out: “These men who have overturned* the inhabited earth are present here also,+7 and Jaʹson has received them as his guests. All these men act in opposition to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.”+8 When they heard these things, the crowd and the city rulers were alarmed; 9 and after taking sufficient security* from Jaʹson and the others, they let them go.

10 Immediately by night the brothers sent both Paul and Silas to Be·roeʹa. On arriving, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thes·sa·lo·niʹca, for they accepted the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12 Therefore, many of them became believers, and so did quite a few of the reputable Greek women as well as some of the men. 13 But when the Jews from Thes·sa·lo·niʹca learned that the word of God was also being proclaimed by Paul in Be·roeʹa, they came there to incite and agitate the crowds.+14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to the sea,+ but both Silas and Timothy remained behind there. 15 However, those accompanying Paul brought him as far as Athens, and they departed after receiving instructions that Silas and Timothy+ should come to Paul as quickly as possible.

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him became irritated on seeing that the city was full of idols. 17 So he began to reason in the synagogue with the Jews and the other people who worshipped God and every day in the marketplace with those who happened to be on hand. 18 But some of both the Ep·i·cu·reʹan and the Stoʹic philosophers began disputing with him, and some were saying: “What is it this chatterer would like to tell?” Others: “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities.” This was because he was declaring the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.+19 So they took hold of him and led him to the Ar·e·opʹa·gus, saying: “Can we get to know what this new teaching is that you are speaking about? 20 For you are introducing some things that are strange to our ears, and we want to know what these things mean.” 21 In fact, all Athenians and the foreigners staying* there would spend their leisure time doing nothing else but telling or listening to something new. 22 Paul now stood in the midst of the Ar·e·opʹa·gus+ and said:

“Men of Athens, I see that in all things you seem to be more given to the fear of the deities* than others are.+23 For instance, while passing along and carefully observing your objects of veneration,* I found even an altar on which had been inscribed ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you are unknowingly worshipping, this I am declaring to you. 24 The God who made the world and all the things in it, being, as he is, Lord of heaven and earth,+ does not dwell in handmade temples;+25 nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything,+ because he himself gives to all people life and breath+ and all things. 26 And he made out of one man+ every nation of men to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,+ and he decreed the appointed times and the set limits of where men would dwell,+27 so that they would seek God, if they might grope for him and really find him,+ although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us. 28 For by him we have life and move and exist, even as some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his children.’*

29 “Therefore, since we are the children* of God,+ we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, like something sculptured by the art and design of humans.+30 True, God has overlooked the times of such ignorance;+ but now he is declaring to all people everywhere that they should repent. 31 Because he has set a day on which he purposes to judge+ the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has provided a guarantee to all men by resurrecting him from the dead.”+

32 Now when they heard of a resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff,+ while others said: “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul left them, 34 but some men joined him and became believers. Among them were Di·o·nysʹi·us, who was a judge of the court of the Ar·e·opʹa·gus, and a woman named Damʹa·ris, and others besides them.